Daddy's Kingdom
by laurzz
Summary: DannyLindsayLucy. post-ep for 8x11. "I trust you," he ran his fingers over her hand. "I just... I worry, you know? You're my Queen, and without you, the kingdom would crash down around me."


**A/N: Hi guys, sorry that this is so late. I had a weekend planned in London with two of the bestest girls I know... so I had the episode to look forward to today. As with the post-ep, I'm a little unsure of it, if I'm totally honest. It's been a while since we've had an awesome DL scene... and I mean holy crap, a scene just the two of them? What? Did the writers realise they did that? I mean no-one coming in to interrupt? I didn't know that could happen anymore. I thought it was physically impossible! So, I've combined an idea I had last week with post-epness as I was blown out of whack :p I'm not used to having actual scenes to rewatch over and over again. More of this please, writers. I approve hugely. **

**Anyway, enough of my mindless babble. Huge thank you to you awesome people who reviewed the post-ep I posted last week. I'm really glad you guys enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it! :) special mentions to..**. Meggie, Julia, Alex Joleta, MesserFamilyFan100, RandomTVFan30, Izzi Creo, CTI-Jenn, ck, brendanakai, Daisy1966, 18lzytwner, afrozenheart412, gigglesforcsi!

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><p>Letting out a disgruntled and agitated sigh, Danny glanced down to his little 'helper' whom was currently offering him a grin. A grin; that for most people would be adorable - for Danny however, that grin spoke volumes. The grin told him he had a hell of a job cleaning up.<p>

"Honey..." He sighed. "What did Daddy tell not to do?"

"Uh, touch it."

"And what did you do?"

"I touched it." She grinned brightly.

"Don't smile," he shook his head. "I told you not to touch the batter... and look at it. It's all over the floor, honeybun. All we have are these three pancakes now that are cooking. We used all the eggs, remember?"

"And Mommy's flour."

Danny cringed as he recalled the fact that they had in fact unnecessarily used all of Lindsay's baking ingredients. He let out a breath and tried to find some composure. "Okay, how about you give me a bit of space here, pumpkin. I know you wanna help, but Daddy's gotta get this cleaned up, okay?" Danny went to pick up his daughter and move her from her stool next to him, but before he could, Lucy stepped off her little stool, and into the pancake batter that had toppled onto the floor not seconds previous."

"Uh oh." She grinned up at him as she wiggled her toes in the gooey mess.

"Uh oh would be about right." He scowled at her, despite her playful innocence. "Are you kiddin' me, princess? Come on, what are you doing? Why are you makin' such a big mess for your Dad, huh?"

Lucy shrugged as she lifted her foot up and went to make a footprint on the linoleum floor of the kitchen.

"No you don't!" Danny quickly interjected as he swooped in and picked his daughter up, holding her away from him slightly. "Into the sink."

"No!" Lucy giggled as he carried her through the air. "Make footprints! It's like fingerpainting, but with toes!"

"With pancake mix? You've lost your mind, little girl." He shook his head as he placed Lucy by the edge of the kitchen sink, allowing her to put her dirty feet into the sink. He turned the water on and let her splash as the sink filled up with warm soapy water. "You've gotta be crazy if you think Daddy's lettin' you make anymore of a mess in the kitchen. I _knew_ it was a bad idea agreeing to make breakfast for dinner without the supervision of Mommy."

"Mommy's gonna be mad," Lucy sing-songed as Danny grabbed a handful of paper towels to collect the batter.

"No kidding," He scoffed as he glanced down at the damage on the floor. "You sit right there, k? There's superglue on your butt, so you can't move, understood? You're sat on the counter, and if you wanna prove to Daddy that you're a big girl and can sit on the counter, then you can't be messin' around, okay?"

"Okay," Lucy nodded. "But Daddy, I gots to be a Messer."

"No you don't," he shook his head as he bent down onto the floor and collected together what was supposed to be his dinner. "You've gotta sit still."

"But Daddy, why? I wants to be a Messer. I like being a Messer."

"Well, you can't when you're sat up there, okay?" he cried as he tugged the trash can towards him and disposed of the gloopy mess before grabbing more paper towels from the roll.

"But Daddy, if I not a Messer, what will I be?"

"A good little girl," he said

"Can I be a Monroe?"

Danny turned to look at his daughter and blinked at her. "What did you say?"

"If I can't be a Messer, can I be a Monroe?" she asked him again. "Like Grandma and Pop-pop?"

Danny stood from where he'd been crouched on the floor and moved over to his daughter and turned the water off. He then turned to face and simply smiled at his inquisitive, yet slightly worried little girl. "You're always gonna be a Messer, sweetheart." He smiled. "Always, always, okay?"

"But... you said-"

"I know what I said, but, I misunderstood what you meant." He smiled. "This is one of the rare times that you're right, Luce, and Daddy's wrong. Wash your feet real good there, okay?"

She nodded enthusiastically and giggled as she got an excuse to splash in the water. Danny, after flicking some bubbles at his daughter, turned around and got back to the mess on the floor.

A few moments passed and he'd successfully managed to get rid of the gloopy mess. Looking up and sighing in relief, Danny realised that Lucy had stopped splashing and was simply sat staring at the ceiling. Laughing at her antics, Danny shook his head as he grabbed the disinfectant and sprayed a generous amount on the floor. "What's so entertaining, baby girl?" he questioned.

She sniffed in response and turned to face Danny. "Why does it smell funny?"

Danny took a moment to sniff the air and turned slowly to face the stove-top. As his eyes soaked in the happenings on the stove, his heart sunk.

There went their dinner...

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><p>"A table for one, please." Danny attempted a posh, British accent as Lucy took his hand and led him to the small family's dining table. "What is on your menu tonight, Miss?"<p>

"We gots pancakes!" Lucy cried with excitement. "Three types!" she emphasised the three as she proudly held up three fingers; something she'd recently mastered at pre-school. "Wanna hear 'em?"

"Sure do," Danny nodded with a grin across his face.

"Okies, so we got the burnted." She held up a blackened circle from where she'd been hiding it under the table. "Then, we gots a kind of burnted. And then uh, we got some..." To describe the extent to which the pancake had burnt, Lucy smacked it against the table; which in response crumbled in her hands. "Uh oh..."

"How much are your pancake dishes?" Danny inquired, fighting the laugh at the look on his daughter's face as she stared down at the crumbled pancake on the floor.

"Uh, four millions and sixty bazillion dollars for the kind of burnted pancake... six cents for the burnted one and uh... I thinks we're out of the other kind."

"Well, I'm on budget, so I'll take the kind of burnt one." He smirked. "Do you have syrup, Miss?"

"Uh, one second."

Danny smirked as he watched her waddle into the kitchen and open up the fridge; he cringed as he listened to the rattling and crashing coming from his daughter.

He'd wanted nothing more than to tidy up and call it quits on dinner completely, but when Lucy had been giggling about their burnt mess, an idea had randomly popped into his mind. Lindsay had told him that role playing with their daughter was a huge thing for her development and some other stuff... and really, it was just fun being silly with her. His annoyance from earlier had completely disappeared, and in it's place was only a desire to enjoy this one on one time with his little girl.

When he'd suggested they play restaurant with the burnt pancakes, her entire face had lit up with excitement and Danny mentally patted himself on the back. Her face, in that moment, was what it was all about.

Blinking himself away from his reverie, he realised what it was exactly that his daughter had been doing in the kitchen. Ketchup, mustard and french onion chip dip were not usually his condiment of choice when it came to his pancakes... but for some reason he had the distinct feeling that tonight - he had no choice.

"I do it?" Lucy questioned with hopeful eyes. Taking a deep breath, Danny nodded - feeling like he'd just signed his life away.

He watched in horror as Lucy squeezed ketchup and mustard onto the burnt pancake. His stomach was flip-flopping in terror, and he couldn't even imagine how disgusting this was going to be. He tried to convince himself that it'd only be like a hot-dog bun with Lucy helpings of ketchup; except, his mind knew that he was about to consume a pancake with ketchup and mustard, and no matter how much he tried to convince himself... he just couldn't do it. Not even for Lucy.

He watched as she prodded a bit of the pancake with a hearty portion of ketchup coating it and arranged it on a spoon, moving it towards his mouth. As a last resort, he gasped and pointed across the apartment to distract her. He took the spoon from her and threw it over his shoulder, chewing dramatically as if to say that he'd actually consumed the vile mixture of food.

His pointing had almost been on cue and Lindsay stepped through the door seconds later with a pizza in her hand and a grin on her face. "Where's my baby!"

"MOMMY!" Lucy bellowed as she dropped the ketchup bottle that she had been holding in her hand and skidded towards the door. She collided with Lindsay's legs and scrambled desperately to try and get Lindsay to pick her up "Mommy! Mommy! I missed you!"

"Aww, angel, I missed you too. Have you been good for Daddy?"

"Uh-huh!" she nodded enthusiastically as Lindsay gathered her up in her arms and settled her on her hip, still attempting to balance the pizza she was carrying. "We tried to make pancakes."

"Tried, huh?" Lindsay grinned as she made her way into the apartment and leant down to press a kiss to Danny's temple. "And did you fail?"

"Well... we had some failures, didn't we muffin?" Danny smirked up at his little girl. "This one right here being one of them." He gestured to the ketchup infested pancake.

"Wow, that's an interesting topping choice, Daddy." Lindsay smirked with wide eyes. "I see a bite is gone... was it yummy?"

"Delicious," Danny lied convincingly. "Except, I think if it's okay with the chef here, I may get in on you guys with that pizza... because it smells _good!_"

"Think he can share some of our pizza, Luce?" Lindsay smirked as she winked at Danny.

"Uh-huh!" Lucy nodded. "Daddy always shares with me, so we need to share with him. Right Daddy?"

"That's right." Danny nodded. "Because sharing's caring, right Mommy?"

"It sure is." She nodded. "Go wash up, Lucy." Lindsay instructed as she set her daughter on the floor, "with soap. I'll be smelling to check. Off you go."

Lucy took off through the apartment, giving Danny the chance to fill Lindsay in on what had led him to requesting her pick up their dinner on her way home from work.

She'd laughed throughout their conversation, but there was something... something not quite right. Danny couldn't help but notice the way that Lindsay was carrying herself. He hadn't noticed it when she was holding Lucy, but now, there was something about her that... worried him.

"Babe... is everything okay?"

"Of course," she turned and smiled as she collected together the various condiments Lucy had decided was appropriate for pancake toppings. "I'm just tired."

Her words fell on deaf ears though, as she had turned, Danny had caught sight of a bruise forming on her shoulder; a bruise that strangely resembled a seat belt strap. "What's that?"

"What's what?" she replied.

"That-" he gestured to her shoulder, "that bruise, are you okay? What happened?"

Lindsay sighed. "It's nothing... I just, when we tried to apprehend Mark earlier I kind of got into a collision. I'm fine though Danny, honest."

"A collision?" Danny blinked as his jaw slacked at her. "When did this happen?"

"Mommy!" Lucy's little voice filled the kitchen. "Mommy I did it!"

Lindsay didn't break Danny's eye contact but bent down to Lucy's level and smelt her little hands. "Nope, not enough soap. Go try again."

"But Mommy, I used soap!"

"Do I need to go and ask Gilbert?" Lindsay turned her gaze down to her daughter, "Because he's sat on that shower curtain just waiting to tell on you Lucy; don't give him a reason to tell on you."

"But he told me he wouldn't tell!" Lucy sniffled.

"Well, go wash your hands properly then," Lindsay suggested. "Then he'll have no reason to tell."

Lucy turned on her heel and stomped off to the bathroom, where Lindsay could only assume strong words would be had with Gilbert the frog; the decorative theme in Lucy's bathroom. Which had been, surprisingly enough, one of the best off the mark threats Lindsay had ever made; no longer did they have to deal with unbrushed teeth, unflushed toilets and unclean hands.

"When were you going to tell me you'd been in an accident?" Danny folded his arms over his chest, taking them right back into the heated discussion. "Huh? Tonight when you got undressed in front of me? Or when we said goodnight? Or while we were having sex? Or next week when your copy of the accident report form landed on our desk? Or were you _ever _going to tell me?"

"When did I have a split second to tell you at work today?" She implored. "Danny, please... come on. Don't be like this with me."

"No baby, look at it!" he cried as he closed the distance between them and shifted her sweater slightly. "Sweetheart, that's a nasty bruise. What happened?"

"Mark was getting away, so Flack as usual went after him on foot and I went for the Avalanche. I cut him off, so the only option he had was to crash into me, and Flack managed to arrest him then. The bruise only just appeared in the last two hours or so. I'm honestly fine. It's a little sore, but it's nothing a painkiller won't help with."

Danny ran his fingers over the bruised area softly. His tone lowered to a soft, concerned timbre and he sighed. "You should have told me, Linds."

"I didn't want to worry you." She replied as her hand went to clasp his as his fingers ran over her skin, "It wasn't anything huge and I just pictured your reaction when I got kicked in the stomach like a year ago. You hit the roof you were so mad... this was nothing. It's not anything huge."

"It's huge to me if you're hurt though, baby." Quietly, Danny dipped his head down and pressed a series of soft, lingering kisses to her neck and shoulder where she'd bruised. His lips were sending sparks down Lindsay's sides as her skin reacted to his lips. Goosebumps covered her arms as she couldn't help but lean into his affections.

"It's just a bruise, Danny." She said as he pulled her top up to check her stomach. "See, nothing there. I'm okay."

"You better be," he scowled. "Because I'm pretty sure if you carry on I'm going to end up having heart failure. You can't keep scaring me like this."

"Danny, you jump from buildings and get pissed when I get upset. I moved about ten feet in a steel tank, and you're about ten seconds from an emotional breakdown."

"That's different."

"How?" she smirked.

"Because..."

"Because I'm me, and you're you, and we function by two different sets of rules? Yeah, I don't think so; good try though."

"Linds, you're not supposed to be coming home with bruises like that... that's my job."

"According to who? Pretty sure that wasn't in either of our job descriptions, buddy."

"It was in the terms and conditions," he smirked. "Didn't you read the small print?"

"Apparently I missed that." She rolled her eyes. "Listen, I'm fine; okay? You know I don't mess around with this. I'm the first person to get checked out by someone, aren't I?"

"Yes." Danny sighed. "I still have a gouge in my head from the ER and them trying to get the glass shards out of my head from when I got bottled. Talk about searching for something that isn't there..."

"Yeah, and it's a good job I did that." Her features softened as she reached forwards and cupped his face affectionately. "Trust me, okay? I'm fine."

"I trust you," he ran his fingers over her hand. "I just... I worry, you know? You're my Queen, and without you, the kingdom would crash down around me."

Lindsay smiled brightly at his cute, but slightly cheesy line. "Well, your Queen isn't going anywhere anytime soon, okay? So just relax... there won't be protests and uprising among the people just yet."

"It's a good job; because the princess has her heart set on pancakes the next time Mommy's home to cook... Daddy did a pretty botched job tonight. I don't think she's very impressed."

"Are you kidding me? She got to be silly with you and gets pizza instead now. She couldn't care less... actually, speaking of the princess... where is she?"

Cringing, Danny and Lindsay turned away from one another and took a deep breath. Together, they called her; to which a simple crash was heard in response.

"Here we go again," Danny sighed, "I'll get the screwdriver... I swear, if she's pulled that thing down after arguing with the frog, I'm gonna go insane, babe."

"Lucy!" Lindsay called out. "Baby, are you okay?"

"I okay... Gilbert not though. I sowwy!"

Lindsay stood on her tiptoes as she pressed a kiss to her husband's cheek before going off in search of her daughter and the chaos that had most likely collected around her. "I'll do it... go set dinner up."

"Nah," He smiled at his wife, "Just take it easy okay? I got this."

"What about your sanity?"

"For you, I think I can deal with it... I'll send her out here. Get started with dishin' dinner out. I won't be too long fixing the shower curtain."

"I love you, you know that right?" she said softly. "And I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner."

"Don't worry about it... just, don't get mad with me when I get protective and all concerned; it's hard for me, you know? Not all guys have their wives acting like Wonderwoman. It's a lot to stomach sometimes when all I wanna do is keep my girl safe."

"You better go get her," Lindsay blushed at his heartfelt words.

"Linds..."

"I promise I'll try not to be too hard on you, okay?"

He nodded and turned as he made his way to the bathroom. Just before he disappeared down the hall though he stopped and called out for Lindsay. "Hey Montana?"

"Yeah?" she turned and smiled at the use of her old nickname.

"I love you too, baby."

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><p><strong>There we have it...hope you guys liked it! Any thoughts and comments would be appreciated! Thanks for reading! :) <strong>


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